BYU at TCU: Game Notes & Quotes

Jonathan Tavernari scored a season-high 23 points, making five treys, in a 107-77 win at TCU. (Photo by Mark Philbrick/BYU Photo)

BYU at TCU

March 6, 2010

Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (Fort Worth, Texas)

Player Notes

— Charles Abouo doubled his previous career high of 11 points, scoring 22 points. The sophomore also set career highs of 8 field goals made, 11 field goals attempted, .727 field goal percentage, and 26 minutes played while also tying career highs of 2 three-point field goals made, 6 free throws attempted and 3 assists.

— Jonathan Tavernari hit 9-of-12, including 5-of-8 from three, finishing with a season-high 23 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Tavernari was 4-of-6 from downtown for 16 points in 17 minutes in the first period.

— Emery had 4 steals in the first half and 5 for the game, his 21st multi-steal game, 8th game with 4 steals or more and 4th with five steals or more of the season.

Team Notes

— BYU head coach Dave Rose has a 64-16 (.800) record in the Mountain West Conference, the second most wins and best winning percentage all-time in MWC history.

— The Cougars have won 12-straight against TCU, having not lost since Feb. 13, 1997.

— BYU shot 72.0% in the second half, easily the best percentage this season in a second half, in a half of conference play, and in a half against a Division I opponent.

— BYU scored 57 points in the first half, tying for their highest first half output of the season when the team had 57 against Southern and Eastern New Mexico.

— BYU’s 62.3% shooting overall is the team’s best effort in MWC play this season and third-best overall this season.

— The Cougars’ 61 bench points is a season-high.

— BYU’s 107 points is the most the Cougars have scored in a road conference game since posting 111 at Colorado State in 1980. It’s the first 100-point conference game since 2005-06 against SDSU and first 100-point road conference game since 1992-93 at Air Force. It’s the third time BYU has scored 100 or more this season.

— BYU had 3 players with 20 or more points for the second time this season. Tavernari had 23, Abouo had 22 and Emery had 22. Fredette almost made it four, finishing with 18 points.

— BYU owns a 151-61 (.712) record as a ranked team. The Cougars are 23-9 (.719) under Coach Rose when ranked, including 14-3 (.824) this season.

Record Watch

— BYU’s record of 28-4 tied the program record for most wins in a season and is the best mark through 32 games in program history.

— Jimmer Fredette has scored the fifth-most career points through his first three seasons of any player in BYU history with 1,398 points. Danny Ainge (1,685), Michael Smith (1,554), Kresimir Cosic (1,512) and Michael Smith (1,419) are the only players with more points through their first three seasons.

— Through 32 games, BYU is 258-of-614 (.420) from the three-point line, just trailing the 2007-08 team which converted a record 285-of-764 (.373) on the season and was 266-of-709 (.375) through 32 games.

— Fredette is 2 three-pointers away from passing Mike Rose for third-most makes in BYU history with 162 conversions to Rose’s 163.

— With 5 steals at TCU, Jackson Emery passed Nate Call and Scott Sinek for 4th on the BYU career steals list. Emery is 17 steals behind Tavernari for 3rd on the list.

Game Trends

— BYU took its first lead at 30-29 with 8:06 remaining in the first half after a Charles Abouo free throw. The Cougars were down by as many as 14 points in the first period. It is the largest deficit BYU has overcome to win this season.

— BYU scored 57 points in the first half, the most allowed by TCU in a first half this season.

— BYU went on a 14-3 run starting at the 12:00 mark in the first period going from down by nine to taking a 31-29 lead.

— BYU went on an 11-0 run beginning with 4:26 left in the first period, including treys by Tavernari, Fredette and Emery, to take a 53-39 lead.

— The Cougars started the second half by going on a 12-2 run.

BYU Head Coach Dave Rose

“If you saw the game and saw the start of the game, you saw how important this time of year is to every team. You can’t afford to take even a minute for granted. TCU came out and hit its first seven shots. Most of their points came off the attack and got us in situations where we didn’t get to them quick enough and didn’t stop the ball like we needed to.”

“Our guys really got going. Our bench shot the ball extremely well, which helps our starters to shoot well. They’re playing at a higher level. They can elevate the performance of the starters and make your team a lot better.”

On tying a school record with 28 wins: “It obviously is quite an accomplishment for our players and coaches. There are obviously things along the way that you look back on and can be proud of and this is one of them.

“You can tell how competitive this group really is. They all have a different demeanor in how they show their competitive spirit. One thing I know is that they do not like to lose. I think we’re in a really good spot to start this postseason play because of their character and commitment to each other and competitive spirit.”

“Tonight we had a lot of people involved that really helped us win this game and that helps with individual confidence.”

“I was just amazed with the support we’ve had tonight. We’ve had good crowds here before, but tonight was unbelievable.”